Tag Archive: Coca-Cola

The timing of the royal wedding couldn’t have been better, especially for Coca-Cola. Wondering where is the connection? Let me explain it to you. London Olympics is a year away and the royal wedding has turned the spotlight on the British capital. Capitalizing on it, Coca-Cola has launched its Olympics campaign, which includes an “eight-pack” of the American athletes who will appear on its packaging and other promotional campaigns for the next 1 year.

These athletes are from backgrounds like diving, boxing and tennis and are potential medal winners for the country. With a huge fan following on social networking sites like Facebook and twitter, the company has got a head start to its London Olympics campaign. These athletes will be the company’s brand ambassadors of active living and they will encourage people to lead an active and balanced life.

This might be a bit early but I feel this is going to get a lot bigger as the games approach. The campaign has already started. A photo shoot was held in Boston some time back. Their pictures will appear on the Coca-Cola cans and bottles. Other activities like in store marketing are expected to begin in the first half of next year.

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Hello friends! Another happy experience, this time at Bangalore. So I was at this Total Mall on the Old Airport Road buying some groceries for the party we were organising for our friends and seniors. As you know, no party is complete without hard drinks so I was supposed to buy juices and cold drinks for the drinkers as well as the non-drinkers. I went to the juice section and dear lord; I saw ten different brands of juices all having at least 5 different variants.

As it is I was already confused between a fruit drink, a fruit juice and fruit nectar, now I had ten different brands to choose from. Tropicana from PepsiCo, Real, Real Activ and Real Burrst from Dabur, Minute Maid from Coca-Cola, Saint from Parle Agro, Ceres, KDD and B-Natural are the names I remember and trust me, there were more. Imagine choosing from among 50 products which doesn’t look much different to you.I realized our market is going the US way where one has about 300 brands for every product; yes the number is close to that, to choose from. Poor marketers have no other option but to increase their advertising spends so that they can get the so called share of mind.

Anyways, back to my experience, I selected some of them based on randomization and of course price. 😀

This was just for the non-drinkers and the vodka lovers, but what about others? Ahhh.. the whiskey and rum lovers only need soda and water and the mere thought of all sodas being the same no matter what the brand is, made me happy! 😀

Just as it happened in the case of shampoos, it is happening in the beverages segment now. Aiming for a deeper penetration in the market big companies like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Britannia and Kraft are introducing products in the lower price segments particularly in the Rs 5 category to drive up volume sales.

Tang, A kraft’s brand under the Cadbury umbrella, has come out with a new campaign with a tagline ‘Aaja Rang De’. The advertisement shows a mother with glassed of the coloured drink who heads out to children who seemed to be disinterested in the goings on. It conveys an idea that the drink gives instant energy and instils enthusiasm. The company had already launched the product in sachet segment but now it has also started manufacturing it in its Hyderabad based facility.

On the other hand, Fanta, the Coca-Cola brand, launched Fun Taste powder sachet in the Rs 5 segment. It’s a pilot project from the company and the company plans to go deeper into the category based on the response it gets from this project.

The organized beverage segment in India is touted to be at around 15 thousand crore of which powdered concentrates contribute as little as 1%. It is believed that affordability may drive sales upwards. Currently, Rasna leads the segment while other players have single digit market share. Well, this is about to get exciting as FMCG majors have started focussing on this category.

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2 brands belong to Pepsico and 1 to Coca-Cola. What all 3 have in common is that they all belong to the same category and the same carbonated drinks segment. While there is a fight amongst the brands to be on top of the minds of the consumers, their similar communication strategy might confuse them.

Mountain Dew has a certain advantage here. With its extreme sporty image the Pepsico brand has positioned itself well among the youth. With a hint of caffeine in the drink, it has differentiated well from the other 2 brands. Salman Khan, being the brand ambassador of the brand goes well with the personality of the brand.

Sprite, that had been doing well for a long time is losing its way. From its original communication strategy of being just a thirst quencher and no “bakwaas” it has moved to university of freshology which is giving “gyan” to the people who drink sprite. The Coca-Cola product has been positioning itself as a no-nonsense drink for so long. The earlier campaigns ‘Sprite Bujhaye Only Pyaas, Baki All Bakwaas’, ‘No Gyan – Only Sprite’ and ‘Seedhi Baat, No Bakwaas, Clear Hai!’ had worked well for the brand. There was no reason for the brand to take this new path. I don’t think the consumers will react positively to this new campaign.

7-Up has also come out with a new campaign with Sherman Joshi as its brand ambassador. It is based on the theme ‘Gussa Hatao, Chill Machao’. The campaign looks fine with its real life like moments of sudden provocation and with Sherman Joshi using his wit and 7-Up to cool the person off. But I feel with this campaign the Pepsi brand has narrowed its focus. 7-Up is what I would want to have when I am angry. Will this click for 7-Up is left to be seen? As it is Pepsico has been struggling with the positioning of 7-Up (due to a similar brand in its portfolio) for quite some time now.

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Coke introduces NesTea, a ready to drink beverage in the non carbonated segment. Priced at Rs 25 for a 400 ml pack, is it a good move?

If we look at the non carbonated drinks segment, Coke’s Pulpy Orange is priced at Rs 20 for a 400 ml pack and its Minute Maid Nimbu fresh is priced at Rs 15. Imagine how different it is for you to have a Nimbu drink or an Ice tea. I don’t think there is much.
Traditionally tea has been liked hot by Indians. Coke wants to change this Indian mentality. The reason could be probably Indians becoming more aware about their health coupled with their increasing ability to spend more. Ice tea would be a good substitute to carbonated drinks and would add to the options available in the non-carbonated segment.

Agreed, the Indian juice market is growing at a considerable pace, but 25 rupees for Ice tea? It is tea after all! We can spend more on fruit juices because its juice and packed fruit juice is good for health. At least that is what we think!

So will Coke be able to change this Indian mentality and especially at this higher price? I have my doubts but I am sure Coke has thought this through.